Seattle’s Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight is located adjacent to Seattle’s Boeing Field/King County Airport. More than 150 aircraft and spacecraft, plus a wide range of artifacts, form this wonderful collection. The “main campus” of the Museum straddles a major road adjacent to the airport and is home to most aircraft on display. More planes and historical items are stored or undergoing restoration at the Museum’s Restoration Center, located at the nearby Paine Field airport in Everett. Some of the largest aircraft on display include a Concorde SST, the first Boeing B-747 (serial number 001), and a Boeing WB-47E Stratojet. Rarities include Bill Lear’s turboprop Lear Fan 2100 prototype, a Lockheed Skunkworks tandem of a DB-21B drone mated to an M-21 (a SR-71 variant) Blackbird, a Northrop YF-5A Freedom Fighter, the MacCready Gossamer Albatross II, the Granville Brothers Gee Bee “Z”, and a Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair. A trio of rare airliners: a DeHavilland Comet 4C, the first Boeing B-727 built, and a Boeing 247D airliner are among the aircraft displayed at the restoration facility in Everett.
The collection covers many eras of flight in detail, from early gliders to space flight. The huge 3 million cubic foot metal and glass Great Gallery houses many of the museum’s aircraft; the giant size of the building allows for ample room in and around each aircraft. Displayed aircraft are hung from the ceiling as well as parked on the expansive floor. Civilian aircraft include examples from such manufacturers as Beech, Stinson, Ryan, Lear, Rutan, Piper and Aeronca. Commercial aircraft include airliners, general aviation prop and jet aircraft, homebuilts, amphibians, and gliders. Military aircraft displayed come from many nations; a Canadair Sabre Mk. 6, a Messerschmitt Me-109E, a Russian MiG-15, a Czechoslovakian MiG-21, Italian Fiat G.91, British Spitfire, and American machines that include a NASA F-104, a MiG-killer F-4 Phantom, a Grumman F9F Cougar and an unmanned Lockheed Martin RQ-3 Dark Star UAV.
The Person Courage Wing is devoted to the planes and people that fought in World War I and II. The Wing contains examples of many American fighters, plus many other nations’ aircraft. The American Fighter Aces Association calls the Museum home too.
Located in Seattle, it is no surprise that there is a large Boeing representation in the museum’s collection. William Boeing’s original manufacturing plant, known simply as “the Red Barn”, was donated to the museum by the city of Seattle in 1975, and moved in pieces from the city’s waterfront to its current location abeam Boeing Field. It houses important items such as wooden jigs used to build early Boeing Model 40 aircraft, and tools that were outdated decades ago. Historic photographs adorn the walls, and the story of the Boeing Company is told on the second floor of this amazing building. Boeing bombers, including examples of a B-17F, B-29, WB-47E, and B-52G are displayed. A pre-World War II F4B-1 Navy biplane fighter is a rare look at an early Boeing success. Besides the aforementioned B-747 and B-727, the first production B-737, once used as a NASA testbed, is also on display. The sole surviving Boeing Model 80A tri-motored biplane (Boeing built a trimotor airliner too!) has been restored in United Air Lines/Boeing Air Transport colors.
The Museum of Flight contains a library and a research center which houses extensive written archives and photographic collections. There is a movie theatre, café and a gift shop too. Adjacent to the museum is busy Boeing Field, home to the B-737 final assembly and painting facilities. One can watch some of these aircraft depart and arrive from test flights from the museum’s grounds. The Restoration Center in Everett is open to visitors on a limited basis; check the web site for hours: www.museumofflight.org . Plan on spending the better part of a day taking in this fabulous collection; figure the entire day if you can get to the Restoration Center in Everett, too.
Article and photos by Ken Kula
